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Seth Onyango @SethManex

Experts say Kenya’s admission of 239 Chinese nationals from Guangzhou, a hotspot of the coronavirus pandemic, could spell gloom to the struggling economy if there is an outbreak.

Fears abound that should the killer virus be detected in Kenya, it will spike far-reaching economic ramifications with the multi-billion-shilling tourism sector suffering the biggest casualty.

Already, effects of China’s lockdown, following the coronavirus outbreak, are being felt in the country as traders in Gikomba market and downtown Nairobi deplete stock.

Speaking to Business Hub, Kenya Tourism Federation chairman Mohammed Hirsi warned that in the event of an outbreak, damaging travel advisories could be imposed on Kenya, due to perceived low capacity to tame such a pandemic.

Reckless move

He said Kenya may have shot itself in the foot by allowing a plane carrying Chinese passengers to land at the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport (JKIA).

“This is reckless. Why do you want us to be banned by other countries? Why are you hell bent to bring us the virus?” he tweeted.

“What a joke…..is it that essential for us to receive such passengers from China? Reckless move…Self quarantine means nothing,” he added.

Last year, Kenya’s tourism earnings jumped 3.9 per cent to Sh163.6 billion as arrivals defied geopolitical shocks and terror threats to remain above the two million mark.

The earnings are Sh6.2 billion up from Sh157.4 billion posted in 2018, indicating the sector was making baby-steps back into past glory as the country’s biggest foreign exchange earner.

In 2018, earnings increased by 37.33 per cent as international tourist arrivals crossed the two-million mark for the first time in history.

In 2019 Tourism Cabinet Secretary Najib Balala announced there were 2.05 million foreign visitors compared with 2.03 million international arrivals in 2018.

Consumers Federation of Kenya (Cofek) secretary general Stephen Mutoto said it is unfortunate that Kenya is risking the lives of its people at the expense of short-term benefits from China.

“As a family of nations, Kenya stands embarrassed and potentially risks being hit with travel advisories,” he said.

Arrivals through Jomo Kenyatta International Airport were 1.42 million or 70 per cent of total arrivals followed by Moi International Airport with 128,222.

But there are fears coronavirus could hit the tourism sector should travel advisories be issued against Kenya, on capacity to contain an outbreak. Already, most advanced nations in medicine and research are grappling to find a cure for the virus which has killed nearly 3,000 people with more set to perish.

Effects of lockdown

Gerrishon Ikiara, a senior economics lecturer at the Institute of Diplomacy and International Studies, University of Nairobi told Business Hub that mitumba and electronics traders in the country have been badly hit having depleted stock.

“Many Kenyans, who depend on clothes and electronics from China, have been badly hit,” said Ikiara.

He said if a cure for the virus, which broke out in the Chinese City of Wuhan in January and has spread to Asia, Europe, Africa, Middle East and the US, is not found in the next two months, its effects will be felt beyond 2021.

It comes even as Kenya Airways and other airlines operating the Chinese route have halted flights to the populous Asian nation amid fears of the epidemic.